The Dujiangyan Water-Releasing Festival, an event celebrating one of China’s most important representations of the country’s intangible cultural heritage, took place on April 2, 2017, with, for the first time, the presence of a large contingent of tourists from many countries around the world.

This year’s Djiangyan Water-Releasing Festival had the support of international media figures who worked with local groups in Dujiangyan’s nine international sister cities to collect the “water of friendship” from oceans, rivers and lakes in and around the nine cities, including from the Pacific Ocean along the U.S. West Coast, Port Phillip Bay fronting Frankston Beach in Australia, the Moskva River in Russia, the River Seine in France, the River Spree in Germany, the Fuji Five Lakes in Japan, the Chao Phraya River in Thailand, the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy and Dubai Creek in the United Arab Emirates. At the ceremony, the “water of friendship” that was collected from the nine locations was poured into Minjiang River as an act of worship of water, the one element that is so critical to human existence, as well as a ritual honoring the heroic individuals who built Dujiangyan, the irrigation system that was constructed in 256 B.C. and remains in full use today.

At the water-releasing ceremony, the ambassadors from the sister cities representing 9 countries including the U.S., Australia, Russia, France, Germany, Japan, Thailand, Italy and the U.A.E., each poured the water from their own city into the Minjiang River, honoring the Water-Releasing Festival.

The nine ambassadors jointly took an oath at the ceremony: to take actions that protect our home – planet Earth – by cherishing every single drop of water.

In recent years, the organizers of the Dujiangyan Water-Releasing Festival have taken steps to raise the visibility of the event to travelers and interested parties all around the world. The large contingent of visitors from far and beyond China’s borders is a testament to the recognition that the world has given to the festival. The success of the event, an event that has demonstrated in more ways than one the appeal of China’s intangible cultural heritage, shows how Dujiangyan has set itself on the road to becoming a popular and recognized international travel destination.